Shadows – The Shadow of Pride

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason and Liz Burns in Access Church in Lakeland and Bartow, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

Friends, I'm so joyful to be with you today.

It's such an honor.

I actually get to kick off a new series today called Shadows.

It's kind of fun.

Shadows are interesting, right?

They're those things behind us.

We can, we can kind of always see they're kind of there.

And uh shadows are something that uh they're they're always behind us.

Shadows for you may be something in your past.

You you're always kind of, it's always kind of in your past following you.

You you can't you can't see it, but you don't know it's, but you know it's there.

You know it's there.

And I'm gonna talk to you today about a shadow, actually, that's been a personal struggle for me.

This is a very different kind of a message for me.

Uh, but I want to get started, as always, with some group therapy.

You guys ready for some group confession?

Okay.

Raise your hand if you would admit to being a little bit competitive.

Okay.

Some of you are so competitive, you're like, I'm gonna have my, I'm gonna be the first one with my hand up.

I'm gonna win the competitive.

I'm a touch competitive, I would say.

It's not, I actually would say it like this.

I don't think I'm competitive, I think I'm a winner.

I think I'm like that person that gets on the plane and like I'm looking at the flight attendant in the eye.

I'm putting my seatbelt on, and I'm like, watch this.

This is not my first flight.

I can put my seatbelt on, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna watch you.

Like, I just want to win.

If there's a way to win, don't invite me to your game night if you don't want to see my true side.

Some of you have really elevated me and Jason, like, those are our pastors.

I bet during the week all they do is pray.

I bet they just pray.

No, don't invite us to a game night then, because Jason's a winner and I'm a winner, and together we are lethal combination for like any game.

Just bring us and we will beat you.

I'm just I'm just saying.

I'm just saying.

Um, I am so competitive.

This started for me.

Me and my therapist have been working on no.

Um, when I was 10 years old, I was in my first and only pageant.

Okay.

Anybody in North Lake Limbarto?

Anybody been in a pageant?

Yeah, it's a terrible experience.

It's a terrible experience.

I do not recommend it, okay?

Um, it was the Little Miss East Coast pageant.

I don't know, but it was I was 10 years old and um I got in the top 10.

You know, I had to sleep in sponge curlers the night before.

Does anybody remember sponge curlers?

Yeah, y'all girls got all kinds of things now.

We didn't have that, okay?

I had my mom's sponge curlers from the 70s, and so we put them in, you slept them in, you didn't get a wink of sleep.

Anyway, I looked amazing, you know, for a 10-year-old.

Um, and I got in the top 10.

No, but then did I win?

I did not win.

I did not win.

And it's not that I'm upset about it.

It's not, it's not it's not that I'm upset about it.

It's not that I remember the winner's name, Eric Navy.

Um it's not that I've looked her up on Facebook.

I have.

Um, it's not that she had a bad perm, because everybody in the it was 1993, everybody had a bad perm, you know.

But she wore this peach gown.

And I'm gonna be honest, it was ugly.

I didn't understand.

I didn't understand why she won.

I didn't understand.

Um, I felt my answers were better.

You know, it's um, I felt like my presentation was good, um, but it that has obviously followed me to this day.

I may have even looked her up on Facebook just to see what she's doing.

I'm like, I bet she's not doing that good.

I bet she's not doing that good.

But I didn't win, but I'm doing great.

I don't know.

But these things follow us around.

And I think that may be where my love of like competition started.

I don't want to lose.

Um, and it's it's funny because we we don't want to lose, we don't wanna, we don't wanna sort of concede.

It's sort of about being right, if you think about it, right?

And what is that actually?

Like what's at the heart of that?

Well, that's pride.

And uh today, that's the shadow I'm gonna talk to you about.

And I'm gonna be so for real, I'm like shaking today.

There, this God has so um given me this word, and this is unusual for me to have this feeling, but I'm ready to talk about it.

And is it okay if we get a little real and I maybe get into your life a little?

Is that okay?

Okay, for those of you who didn't say okay, we're gonna do it anyway, but you have been warned.

Um, so we're gonna start with just like a simple definition of pride.

Really, pride is just this pride is anything that's self over God, right?

Pride is self over God, and it's it's really interesting in this day and age.

Uh, we've all always had pride, pride is a tale as old as time.

We're gonna talk about scripture has so much to say on this topic.

Like, I'm gonna warn you ahead of time that this pride could be a series here at access.

We could do eight weeks on pride, um, but I'm doing today the shadow of pride.

But it is so interesting because over the years, um, we have gotten emails where people are like, you know, I know, uh, Pastor Jason, that you went to nine years of ministry school, but I saw a TikTok that says this, so you are wrong.

And uh, yeah, I got quiet.

It's okay.

And um, some people will say, like, I know what the Bible says, but I just think.

So, like, if you believe you know better than God in the Bible, just say that.

Just start with that.

That's okay.

That's okay.

I told you it's gonna get a little uncomfortable today, and we're gonna we're gonna jump in.

But pride is, I read this quote this week and it's perfect.

It's it's from Craig Rochelle.

He said it's it's dangerously destructive, but it's difficult to detect.

What do I mean?

I mean that we don't see pride when we look in the mirror because we always know our own thoughts, our own motives, our own sort of explanation for something, right?

You can't see pride and yet it's dangerous.

And I actually want to talk to us about that today, how it may have snuck into corners of our life that we didn't even realize it's dangerously destructive, but God doesn't want pride.

Let's just start there.

God, what he desires is humility.

Micah 6.8 says, He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

So humility, which is what God desires, says, you know what?

I want grace more than I want to be right.

I want, I want grace more than I want to be right.

So we're starting this shadows series, right?

So I read a little like science about shadows, and shadows only form when light is blocked.

Okay, so isn't that interesting?

If you were just in an open expanse and it was sunny, there would be no shadows because there's nothing there to break the light and to form a shadow.

As Christians, what is the light or who is the light in our life?

Well, that's Jesus.

Jesus is the light.

John says it like this when Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

So if Jesus is the light, then pride would be that thing that blocks and forms shadows in our life.

Pride blocks the light of Jesus in our life.

I'll say it like this pride blocks the light of Jesus in our lives because it moves our focus to self.

So instead of realizing that we even have a shadow because of the light Jesus shining on us, we look to the shadow and we think it's about us.

We think, oh, this is so good.

I'm doing great.

In my own strength, I did this.

But you only even have a shadow of pride to look at because the light of Jesus is shining on you.

Do you follow what I'm saying?

This is something cool too.

Shadows actually appear strongest when the light is shining brightest.

So you may have the strongest shadow of your life, something you really feel accomplished with, something you really feel proud of, but it's only because the light is shining so strong on you.

Are you following me?

You only get a shadow when the light is bright, and Jesus is the light, he's the whole reason.

So today I want to go to the Bible.

I want to look at actually a lot of scripture, if that's okay, and think about this topic of pride, and we're gonna get real and we're gonna assess.

There's a story in Second Chronicles, it's in the Old Testament.

I actually think Chronicles get a bad rap.

I think a lot of people, when they're going through their yearly Bible plan, are like, okay, here come the chronicles, because it's like this one and this one and this one and that one.

I would just challenge you to think this.

You, one day and your life and your story will be a chronicle.

And what is it gonna say about your life?

What is it gonna be?

So we're gonna talk about this man called Uzziah.

In 2 Chronicles, we're gonna go to 2 Chronicles 26, and it says, Uzziah, he was only 16 years old when he became king.

Okay, so this was a time in Israel's history, right?

They had had just, they were a theocracy.

They were just ruled by God, but they begged God for a king.

And so they went through all this series of kings, and Chronicles is the one of the books that is telling you this one was king, and then this one was king.

So this is Uzziah, this is his story.

He was only 16 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 52 years.

His mother's name was Jacolia.

She was from Jerusalem, and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done.

He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God.

And please note this as long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.

We need to stop here and note something important.

It says, as long as Uzziah sought the Lord, God gave him success.

His success was tied to God.

His success was from God.

But something happens in our lives, doesn't it, when we start to have success?

We start to look at that shadow and go, wow, look what I did.

Look what I made, look what I accomplished.

Aren't I great?

When it's only because of God allowing those things in your life that you even have that.

See, we start to focus on the gift instead of the giver.

Yeah, think about this.

If I gifted you something amazing, right?

I made you, I this would never happen because I am not crafty.

I'm great at Amazon.

Um, if I made you a quilt, right?

And I was like, it took me hours and hours and hours and hours.

I made you this quilt, I give it to you.

And then somebody comes to your house and they go, Great quilt.

And you're like, Thank you so much.

I made that quilt.

I would be off in the corner, like, are you insane?

I spent hours making that quilt.

How rude of you to take credit for the quilt.

Okay, silly example, right?

But how many of us have looked at our accomplishments, have looked at the things we've achieved financially, the things in work, the things relationally and gone.

I did pretty good, huh?

Through my hard work, through my blood, sweat, and tears.

No, you wouldn't even have two legs to walk into this church today had God not given you the strength to walk in.

You wouldn't even woken up this morning had God not put a breath in your lungs to breathe, to be here.

You're looking at the gift instead of the giver of the gift.

And that's twisted, friend.

That's pride, and that's where poor Uzziah starts to be.

So we go on.

He was unfaithful to the Lord, his God.

This is a tale as old as time.

Somebody starts out in such a spirit of humility, they're like, I'm gonna do this, I wanna be great.

But this is what happens pride distorts our vision.

Okay, so we start out knowing, like, I'm really blessed.

God has given me this and that, but pride starts to become your own little personal hype man on the inside.

It starts to glaze you, as the kids would say.

So you start to believe you're really something.

You start to believe, wow, this is I have this because of me.

Pride distorts the way we view things, the way we view God, the way we view our very lives.

It distorts our vision.

And this is what happens to Uzziah.

He starts to believe that he's the reason for his own success.

He starts to believe, man, I must be a great king because um things are going pretty well here, you know?

That sounds crazy.

None of us are kings or queens.

I mean, you're some of your queens, yes.

But like nobody's doing that, but we do that in other ways, right?

We do that in ways, and we believe we're the reason for our success.

And something pretty unimaginable happens to Isaiah.

The Lord strikes him with leprosy.

Leprosy, you start to think of um, when you think of that picture, you think of people with like uh boils and and and you know, hives, and that's true, but it was actually like a tissue disorder.

So it was incredibly painful, incredibly uncomfortable internally as well as externally.

And this is what scripture said King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died.

He lived in a separate house, leprous and banned from the temple of the Lord, and Jotham, his son, had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

King Uzziah is a warning.

His story is a warning to us.

We're like, well, this is extreme.

I'm not here taking credit for a kingdom.

God's not gonna strike me with leprosy.

No, but we sure have done this in other ways.

The Bible has a lot to say on the topic of pride.

I want to go into this with you.

Probably the most well-known verse you may think of when you think of pride, right?

Is Proverbs 16, 18.

Pride goes before a lot of you would finish that with pride goes before the fall.

It's actually pride goes before destruction, which is even worse than a fall, right?

But haughty spirit goes before a fall.

There's something so humbling and humanizing about people falling down, isn't it?

I am gonna be so for real with you.

I giggle like I'm six years old, watching videos of people falling.

It is so funny to me.

Like we don't live in an ice environment, but man, there's compilation videos of like icy stairs and just people.

It is the most humbling because when you're falling, there's no way to act cool.

You're grabbing on for whatever is around you, and it is the most humanizing thing.

So, how interesting that the Bible would use that term when talking about pride, that that's what's going to happen to you.

So, pride goes before destruction, right?

Already a great reason to try to get it out of our lives.

Here's one more thing if you thought that wasn't extreme enough.

Proverbs says to fear the Lord is to hate evil.

I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior, and perverse speech.

Okay.

If God hates pride, that's good enough for me.

Let's get it out, okay?

So we've set up that there's a shadow problem here, yes?

There's a shadow of pride that follows us.

We only have that shadow because the light is Jesus shines on us, but we start to take credit for us.

So, how do we get rid of the shadow of pride?

I want to camp on this today and give you some ways.

The first thing is we gotta get honest about areas of pride in our life.

Some of you are listening to this message going, I don't boast that much.

Like, I don't, I'm not a boaster, I'm very shy.

That has nothing to do with pride, okay?

If you want to recognize pride in your life, here's some great ways you can recognize pride.

Think about the areas of your life that you depend on God the least and depend on yourself the most.

Conversely, think of the areas of your life that you depend on God the most.

Can I be so, so, so, so vulnerable with you right now?

This, doing this, is an area I have to completely depend on God.

This scares me.

I have had a week, friends.

I have had a week.

Okay?

This is not my normal thing.

Sometimes my line today was gonna be like sometimes Jason tells me to preach so you can remember how good he is.

Okay, but him with his no notes, crazy, right?

I'm like, wow.

This is hard for me.

When I get up and sing, that's what I thought my whole life was gonna be.

I sang from like two years old.

My parents couldn't shut me up about the singing, right?

My whole undergrad degree was in singing.

Singing is of natural for me, it's easy.

I could sing right now if they called and said you have to go sing, I'd go sing.

But this scares me.

And I think that's great.

Why?

Because if God doesn't show up, I've got nothing.

If God doesn't speak, I've got nothing for you.

But what area of your life do you realize I don't even ask for God's help?

I think I've got this.

That might be an area of pride.

Can I really step on your toes and then I'll step right back off?

What areas make you the most offended?

Offense happens when we believe our rights have been attacked.

My rights have been attacked, so you offended me.

You offended me.

That's pride, friends.

Pride says, I have rights to live with Jesus is to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him.

But pride says, You offended me.

Can I be so for real?

Control might be the area that God is speaking to you about today.

Some things you grab on control for, friend, that's pride.

It's crazy to me that we think we have control of anything.

God gives me my next breath to take.

It doesn't have to happen.

I am a pastor.

I have seen the most horrendous of things.

Things come across our office, they come across our desk, things that would shock you, things you never want to, things I wish I could unhear.

We are not in control of this life.

Maybe that's your pride being challenged.

Okay, this was not in my notes.

Some of you look at others based on their financial status, their employment status, the color of their skin, and you believe you are better.

And that is pride.

You are not better than anyone.

You are a moment away from facing Jesus.

He made you, he gave you breath.

There is nothing you ever did to earn your salvation.

If your whole advantage in life is because you grew up in a great home, that's not something you earned.

If your whole advantage in life is because you you did pretty well and you have this, you didn't earn that through your blood spot.

Oh, I earned everything I had.

No, that's pride.

God gave you the very breath in your heart, Access, I just want to call us higher.

Please, please help me.

Please come with me.

Please don't be upset.

Because me too.

I'm tempted sometimes.

Like, look at all we've built.

No, we've built nothing.

If Jesus doesn't show up tomorrow, this church is over.

It's his church by him, for him.

You think two 25-year-olds had any right to start a church in our living room?

We didn't know what we were doing.

We had no money.

We had never even worked at another church.

What were we doing?

This church is God's.

It is by him, it is for him.

It will only continue if he comes.

Some of you look at your life, you look at your bank account, and you go, look what I did.

No, thank God for that blessing and realize he never gave it to you just for you.

Turn it back around and bless somebody.

He gave you your platform, he gave you your voice, he gave you your finance to bless others.

What are you doing with that?

Or are you just building a kingdom, building an empire for yourself?

Woo, it's gonna be hard to get through this today.

Okay.

That's the first thing we can do to get rid of pride.

You have to recognize you have it.

Okay?

You don't can't get rid of a problem until you realize you have it.

The second is listen to others.

Do you remember what it said about Uzziah?

It said, as long as he had Zechariah, uh in Second Chronicles, here we'll put it up for you.

He says, He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God.

As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.

He had a person that spoke to him.

He had a blind spot person.

Do you know what that is?

Remember at the beginning I said pride is dangerous because it's hard to detect.

That's where you need people that are not yes people in your life.

Okay, no one wants to be told, hey girl, when you do this, it's not great.

Fix your face, fix your attitude.

Hey girl, I've been noticing this about you.

Um, but until you do that, you're not gonna grow an inch.

If you surround yourself with only yes people, you are on the verge of destruction, my friend.

Can I can I say something else?

This is bad.

At this point, it's fine.

Nobody's sending a pastor appreciation gift, and that's fine.

And if you send something baked, I'm not gonna eat it because I'm gonna assume it's poisoned.

Okay.

Okay.

Not everyone in your life who says something against you is a hater.

Okay, some of those voices, some, I will say some, because you do have to protect access to your heart.

Not everybody should get a voice, but there has to be somebody with a voice.

If you have no one in your life, if it's been a minute since you've been uncomfortable, you might be living in pride.

Because is anyone speaking to you?

Is anyone pointing out areas of growth to you?

Is anyone saying, Liz, let me call you higher?

People are are gonna say that to you.

I have a few.

A few I say, because we get a lot of emails, but I have a few trusted voices that they'll be like, hey, I want to let you know you're striving.

You're striving because you want people to like you, and that and that's bad.

I'm really dive bombing on that one today, so that'll be good.

I will be in the green room, not in the parking lot after church.

But not everyone is a hater, friend.

If you don't have a voice, scripture doesn't say this.

I'm not trying to say the says the Lord, but it says when he listened to Zechariah, he saw the Lord.

But then he started to believe his own hype.

He started to believe his own press, right?

Oh, that's dangerous.

Oh, that's dangerous.

If you don't have somebody who's calling you higher, get someone.

Can I encourage you to do that?

Okay.

The third thing that we can do to break the shadow of pride is the obvious one, right?

Humility.

Humility is the light that distorts the shadow of pride.

James 4 says, but he gives us more grace.

That is why scripture said God, he opposes the proud.

He's like, you're my op, as the kids would say, but shows favor to the humble.

A simple definition.

If if pride is self over God, humility is God over self.

God, not my will but yours be done.

God, you're the way.

God, I know what I want, but but this is what I'm gonna do.

It's a dependence on God.

It's that waking up every day going, God, thank you for my breath.

Thank you for a roof over my head today.

Thank you that when it rained, I had a bed to sleep in tonight.

Humility remembers.

Pride says, I can.

Humility says, God can.

And if God doesn't, I can't.

Okay, so shadows only exist, right?

When light is blocked.

Jesus is the light.

Pride distorts our vision, right?

It gets us looking at the shadow instead of the light.

But when we continually fix our eyes on Jesus, pride loses its grip because we get out of the way and we just let the light shine.

Instead of saying, Here comes the light on me and look at this beautiful shadow it made.

No, we just say, Let me get out of the way and let the light do its thing because the light is where it's at.

Does that make sense to you?

This is the fourth thing we can do.

We can remember.

What do I mean?

I love this verse in Hosea.

It says, When I fed them, they were satisfied.

And when they were satisfied, they became proud.

Then they forgot me.

Then they forgot me.

Have you ever been hungry?

Um I mean, I'm hungry a lot, I'll be honest, but okay.

But like when you eat that first two, three bites, you forget that you were hungry because you're like, okay, I'm good.

Stay hungry.

And what do I mean?

I mean stay remembering what it was like before God came through for you.

Stay remembering his goodness.

Stay remembering that you were once lost on a path to hell.

Hell and heaven?

They're real.

If you have forgotten that.

And had God not saved you, you'd still be on your way.

But because he saved you, you're on your way to heaven.

And what kind of arrogance would then take credit for that?

No, because of Jesus, I am saved.

Because of his goodness, I walked in today.

Because of his faithfulness.

I have breath to even tell you this message today.

How about this?

How about remembrance causes us at those high points of our life, instead of making platforms to make an altar?

Do you know what that means?

In the Old Testament, when something good would happen, they'd say, you know what we're gonna do?

We're gonna make an altar.

We're gonna make a monument, we're gonna set up stones.

Why?

Why?

So we won't forget what God did.

A platform says, here I am, stepping up onto this platform.

Aren't I great?

Look at me, here I go.

No, no, no, no, no.

Don't make a platform, make an altar when God comes through in your life.

I have actual literal scars on my body from my ears with cancer.

Those are my altars.

I don't look at that people go, You beat cancer because you were so strong.

God help us.

No, God's grace healed me.

God's grace saved me.

Those scars on my body, they're not a platform for me.

They are an altar.

Humility says, Let me lay my life down, God, and thank you for what you did for me.

You didn't have to save me, but you did.

Maybe some of you today are gonna have to leave here and look at altars you've put up in your life and pull them down by turning them in.

I'm sorry.

Maybe some of you have set up platforms in your life.

You're gonna have to leave and set up and realize I need to make it into an altar.

James 4 10 says, if you'll humble yourself before the Lord, he will lift you up.

He's so kind, isn't he?

I think some of you have maybe disregarded this message because you're like, I'm really shy.

I don't speak up, so I'm not proud.

No.

Humility isn't thinking less of yourself.

Insecure people can be just as filled with pride.

Humility is thinking of yourself less often.

Insecure people can be some of the most self-centered people because it's all about them.

What I can't do, what I can't do, I'm not good enough for this.

Stop talking about yourself.

Start talking about God and what he can do through you.

When we remember that without God, we're nothing.

He's so kind, and it says he'll exalt us.

We lose the shadow of pride.

Let me say it like this, okay?

If shadows form because light's shining on us and we have something blocking it, the shadow of pride will disappear when we let God's light not shine on us, but shine through us.

That is how God wants to be in your life.

He's not being good to you to make you great.

He's not being good to you to raise your name.

God forbid.

One of the most beautiful things that ever happened in our ministry life was Jason and I took a three-month sabbatical.

Pride said to me at the beginning, what if we're gone and they like the church better when we're gone?

The great thing it reminded me is this church has never been about my name, Jason's name.

This church will go on because it is God's church.

Okay.

You get out of the way and let him shine through you, not on you.

Don't stop the light of his glory from shining.

Let it shine through you, and that passion, that everything he does through you will change the whole world.

Okay.

I told you I've had a week, right?

All week I struggled with this message.

And I was like, it's a message on pride that's so uncomfortable.

That is not a sweet message.

No one's gonna be like, let me send this to my friend to encourage them.

Okay.

God reminded me yesterday that humility is a serious matter.

What do I mean?

Okay.

Would anyone admit that the world we live in right now feels more than a little bit broken?

I hear the word revival tossed around.

That we're on the brink of revival, and I believe we are.

But revival's not starting because churches are getting shiny.

Do you know what scripture says brings revival?

If my people who are called by my name will what?

Will humble themselves?

Will humble themselves.

I'm sorry.

And pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.

Then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and I will heal the land.

Can't even heal us until we humble ourselves.

Maybe we have to get out of the way.

God help me to not be the reason revival doesn't come to this church.

Let me lay down my pride.

Let me humble myself.

God, we are, oh my God, look around.

We are the most arrogant people and nation.

We boast about ourselves.

We're so proud.

We build ourselves monuments.

No, we are a step away from destruction without him.

If we don't humble ourselves, he can't heal us.

Real revival may not start because one church explodes and it's shiny and it's great.

Real revival, I really believe, is gonna happen in a movement where a church like us could get together and be like, oh God, let's get out of the way.

Let's get out of the way and let you shine.

I don't think his revival is gonna start when the light just shines on us and shows how great we are.

I really think revival's gonna start personally, friends.

If we can humble ourselves and pray.

I am so convicted with this.

I could barely breathe this morning.

Because I believe he is speaking to us, he's calling us higher access.

Are you gonna rise?

And it's a funny rise because it's a rise sort of by getting out of the way.

Will you do it with me?

I want to give you some things to think about this week.

I want you to get real honest.

This is your homework.

Get real honest about areas of pride in your life.

Go look at what are my triggers?

Why am I triggered?

Why am I offended?

Why do I fight for control?

Why do I not lean on him?

That's your pride speaking.

Some of you need to get a friend.

Like we all should get a friend, but a blind spot friend.

A friend that will speak to you and call you higher.

And some of you need to start remembering where you were before Jesus.

You bow your head and close your eyes with me.

God, I am overwhelmed by you.

I am overwhelmed by your presence.

Forgive me, God.

For the moments in my life I've turned into a platform instead of an altar for you.

I want your light to shine through me, not on me, God.

So many in this room right now, God, you're calling.

You're calling higher.

Revival can start here, God, but it's not because we get greater.

It's because you shine with us out of the way.

Have your way in this church, God.

Have your way in our hearts.

Have your way in your people.

We are yours.

We are yours.

We are yours.

Thank you for every breath.

Thank you for this building to worship you in.

Thank you for legs to walk in on.

I thank you, God.

Hey, listen, somebody here in this room today, no one's looking around, but somebody in this room today.

You haven't even prayed to accept Jesus into your heart, or it's been a long time and God is calling you right now to rededicate your life to Him.

No one's looking.

If that's you today, if you want to rededicate or dedicate your life to God, will you just lift your hand with no one looking?

Lift your hand right now.

I see your hand.

I see your hand.

Yep.

I see your hand.

We're gonna all pray with you because nobody does this alone.

We're better together.

Everybody, repeat after me.

Say, dear God, come on, everybody, dear God.

Today I invite your son Jesus into my heart.

I give up control of my life and I receive your forgiveness.

Thank you for dying for me.

And now I get out of the way so you can shine bright.

Be the Lord and King of my life forever and ever in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Friends, we just had people pray to receive Christ.

Let's celebrate Him.

Come on.